There’s plenty of exciting stadium news and rumors in and around the top tier of English football. The impending construction of new grounds might accelerate your plans to get to a place you’ve always wanted to go before it’s gone. Or, increase your opportunity to finally get into see a team you’ve had on your list. Let’s have a look at some of the upgrades and construction in progress as we think about planning for coming trips.
Brentford FC
No, they’re not in the top flight yet. But when you fly into Heathrow, it’s the first glimpse you’ll get of football and you’ll be left wondering — who plays over there?
Brentford’s new stadium has been under construction for the past few years, and it’s poised to open at the start of the 2020/2021 season. The stadium is due to seat 17,250 — and the club’s preview site is pretty cool. The stadium is also due to host the London Irish rugby club and will be part of a mixed-use development close to a train station. All in all, this area is poised to be a new destination in West London.
Brentford is currently fourth in the Championship table, which should keep them in the hunt for the playoff promotion hunt winner. According to their site, tickets and premium experiences are moving fast, so this could be a super tough ticket if the club hits on a dream and times the opening year of the ground with a Premier League schedule.
Fulham
Yes, Fulham are also in the Championship. But they’re an American favorite and have an iconic stadium — which is currently undergoing a renovation. The new Riverside Stand will not only expand capacity but transform the area around the stand into a year-round destination.
The club’s news site has some updates about the work in progress for the stand, which is expected to open during the 2021/2022 season. Fulham plan to play all of their games at the ground — which still operates the historic Johnny Hayes stand, which you see in those iconic pictures of Craven Cottage.
The final product is expected to increase capacity by 4,000 seats. The new area should make for an amazing walk from the train stations to the grounds along the river, especially when using the Hammersmith station.
Things might get a little crazy with construction happening if Fulham pull off a championship playoff win. They’re third at time of writing, 6 points out of a guaranteed promotion spot.
Everton
Everton have plans for a glorious new stadium to replace Goodison Park — which has been the home of the club since 1892. The new stadium will be on the banks of the River Mersey, and looks to be a stunner. Here’s the consolidated news from the Liverpool Echo, if you want to read all about it.
The big reason this new project should be on your radar now is the anticipated move date for the start of the 2023-2024 season. That leaves three campaigns to find your way to Liverpool and catch a match at a historic site. Everton and Liverpool trade home and away dates through the course of the season, except when they play each other.
The new stadium will increase Everton’s capacity from around 39,700 to nearly 53,000. The old ground cost about 3,000 GBP to build back in the day. The new ground is estimated to run nearly 500 Million GBP. Here’s a very comprehensive site about the project.
Crystal Palace
South London’s club also has big plans for a new stand. A stunning project will increase the capacity of the Selhurst Park to more than 34,000 with a new view streetside that might take some of the shine off their parking lot neighbors, Sainsbury’s (I kid, I kid.)
Here’s the new stadium’s project page, which shows a glorious artist’s rendering of the amazing streetside stand. Maybe most important to international fans will be the improvements made to the Arthur Wait stand, where you’re likely to be sat when lucky enough to snag tickets. The removal of the TV gantry and a better concourse will be more than welcome.
As a faithful Saturday morning EPL watcher, you know the Palace fans consistently bring amazing energy all through the match — as opposed to some grounds where you can hear a pin drop at times. But, the area around the stadium is a bummer for early birds like me, who like to get there before the crowds crush in. There’s precious little pre-match entertainment space on the walk to the stadium — and even in close proximity. And the concession experience once in the ground is dodgy at best. Thank goodness the soccer makes up for it. Save your stop at the Tasty Jerk for after the match.
That said, Palace have one of the best programs for international fans with their international membership. Over the last few years, overseas supporters could put in a ticket request prior to an on-sale date in order to lock in a date to visit the club. Plus, for matches against most of the league (aka not the A matches) — you could request up to 4 tickets, which makes it a lot easier to plan a family trip with enough seats. Here’s hoping that scheme continues through construction of the new stand and into the revised ground.
As of this writing, Palace have yet to start work on the improvements — even after winning approval from the local authorities in 2019. The stand is expected to cost upwards of 100M GBP — so it’s no small feat for the club. From reports, one of the blockers is the status of the Sainsbury’s grocery, which is literally attached to the ground and shares a parking lot. Seems like the grocery crew weren’t in the know when this project was initially announced in 2017.
Watford
Watford are also considering a move away from their longtime home at Vicarage Road. Plans revealed in recent weeks show an amazing new design from the same architects that brought us the crazy good Spurs experience.
Reports say the new stadium would increase capacity at Watford from 20,000 to 30,000 — a welcome development for anyone who might want to travel from abroad to see a match. Watford have a huge season ticket base — and international fan access to general seating match tickets is basically non-existent for someone who hasn’t embraced the club as their one and only. It’s club or nothing at all.
That said, Watford’s place in the table is said to be a major concern in the go-ahead of these plans. The club is right on the edge of the relegation places, just in the safe zone at the moment via goal difference. It’s surely something that would impact any future plans for a major construction project, as the club is overly reliant on PL TV income for a majority of revenues, according to reports.
Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs have a glorious new stadium full of amazing experiences. It truly is a wonder. So, what’s 241 more people?
The more, the merrier.
The club has petitioned to add a small number of new seats as season tickets. Ideally, this means a few extra around the grounds for folks who want to have a regular experience among the masses.
Getting to the new Spurs stadium is a must experience, whether for a Premier League match, an NFL game or just to check out the team shop. Put it on your list.
Where’d we miss?
Is there other stadium news we’ve left out of the roundup? Or, additional details about matchday experiences and improvements? Hit us up— goingtogrounds <at> gmail.com and we’ll update this post to highlight your submission.